A woman who has run a popular restaurant in Cornwall for the past 20 years is embarking on a new career in the spotlight.

Annabel Bennett had barely ever written a note of music but the death of her father – who had worked with everyone from David Bowie to John Lee Hooker and Gerry Rafferty – saw an outpouring of poignant and beautiful piano tunes.

Now she has been signed to a record label, is about to release her debut EP, will play London’s famed 100 Club and is even having a documentary made about her dramatic career change.

Despite coming to music late in life, it actually runs in her blood.

Read More

Annabel, who runs The Ivy House at St Merryn, near Padstow with chef husband Peter, grew up in a house where David Bowie babysat her and her sister, where blues legend John Lee Hooker slept on the floor and where Gerry Rafferty wrote half of the classic song, Baker Street.

Annabel Bennett is swapping the restaurant for the spotlight

Her dad was arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist Tom Parker, who worked with all of the above, while her uncle, Jim Parker, is a composer who wrote the music for the Captain Beaky phenomenon of the late 1970s as well as TV themes such as Midsomer Murders, The House of Elliott and House of Cards.

Annabel told Cornwall Live: “All my dad and uncle ever did was music, but until my dad died I’d barely written anything. When he died five years ago the music started flowing. I almost felt like my dad was helping me, I would even start to play chords that I would never have played usually and it would sound like something my dad would have played. I would write music constantly in the shed between running the restaurant and B&B.”

Read More

The first fruits of her shed compositions are released on February 14 on Delimusic, a TV production company which has started its own record company.

The Solitaire EP features six beautiful piano pieces, recorded in London, which are evocative of Erik Satie’s mesmerising work but with a fuller, more emotional feel.

Annabel added: “Although it’s classical, it’s not too intense but it’s not easy listening either. The plan is to release my music EP by EP. The main thing is my music now, I aim to give up the restaurant if this proves successful.”

The chances are it will, given her musical heritage.

The gig where Annabel's dad Tom Parker first played Changes with David Bowie (Image: Courtesy of www.davidbowie.com)

She said: “My dad shared the same manager as David Bowie. Rick Wakeman was supposed to be touring on one of his albums and couldn’t do it so Bowie asked my dad.”

Tom appeared at some Bowie dates to promote the Hunky Dory album in 1971 and was the first person to play live piano on the seminal Changes.

“Bowie babysat me and my sister, though I don’t remember as I was only a baby so it must have been around 1970,” Annabel added. Her mother, Joan, an artist who lives in Truro, said that Bowie lived round the corner from them in Kent and would regularly visit as he loved children.

Gerry Rafferty wrote a lot of Baker Street in the family's house and Annabel's dad played piano on Boom Boom when John Lee Hooker sang it on Top of the Pops. The bluesman used to sleep on the Parkers’ floor when he came over from America.

Read More

Annabel said: “My dad also worked with the Groundhogs, who are playing the 100 Club two nights before me, which is very strange.”

Tom Parker was a member of The Animals in the 1960s, worked with the likes of The Nolans and Lena Zavaroni in the 1970s and arranged the music on lots of well-known commercials including the Flake ad.

“I used to play other people’s music in hotels in St Ives when I first moved to Cornwall. I gave it up to concentrate on running the restaurant and raising a family,” said Annabel.

Annabel Bennett releases her first EP on Valentine's Day

What do her son, aged 22, and daughter, 14, think of her new career?

“My kids are very proud, they definitely didn’t expect it. To them, I’ve just been their mum rushing around the restaurant. It will shock a lot of people in the Padstow area who don’t even know I play the piano; it will be like it’s come out of nowhere for them.”

Annabel has a fan in advertising director Joe Roman, who has made international ads for the likes of L’Oreal and P&O. He plans to use her music in some of his future projects and will be travelling to Cornwall to film a documentary about her later this year.

Despite only popping up at the odd open mic night at Cornish pubs, Annabel will be making her big stage debut at none other than London’s legendary 100 Club on February 14 and she’s “very nervous” about it.

Before then you can see her perform at the Akoostika nights on the Compton Castle boat in Truro’s Lemon Quay every other Wednesday, including next week on February 7.

How does she feel about starting a music career at a relatively late age?

“A lot of composers wrote their best stuff later in life. I think some of the best music comes from experience, so it really doesn’t bother me that I’m 47.”